Black Star Quotes
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There are staples to my show. I have to be conscious about switching things up because I know people who saw me last year will say, 'He did that last time.' But if certain things work, they work.
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We played against each other like puppets, swearing you got pull When the only pull you got is the wool over your eyes Getting knowledge in jail like a blessing in disguise Look in the skies for god, what you see besides the smog Is broken dreams flying away on the wings of the obscene.
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I am not a prisoner of conscious, but people try to make me one sometimes. It is both a gift and a curse. It's a high honour but can create limitations - I have to be fluid.
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Fame is like getting across the street. It's like, if there's nothing to be across the street for, it's a pointless destination.
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If you look at my career, doing albums with Norah Jones, Justin Timberlake, Gucci Mane and Lil Wayne or KRS-One and Jean Grae, I can't be pigeonholed.
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People consider Black Star a great album, and I think it's a classic album. But the fact is, both me and Mos Def have made better albums since Black Star.
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Once you're signed to a label you compromise.
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Well if somebody's giving me a script, I'll consider it. But it's not something I'm chasing.
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I don't care about what brand you are, I'm concerned what type of man you are, what your principles and standards are.
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My kids are the most inspiring thing that pushes me. It used to be because they were born, and I had to take care of them. Now it's because my son raps, and he's better than me. So now I gotta keep up with him, you know what I'm saying?
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Young bloods can't spell but they could rock you in PlayStation...
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Being called a conscious rapper is quite a compliment. It's a great thing to be. But as an artist, my nature is to not be in a box.
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There's a lot of activism that doesn't deal with empowerment, and you have to empower yourself in order to be relevant to any type of struggle.
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The beautiful thing about hip-hop is it's like an audio collage. You can take any form of music and do it in a hip-hop way and it'll be a hip-hop song. That's the only music you can do that with.
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I don't feel comfortable making empty music.
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You know, I've learned a lot from every person I've collaborated with, from Madlib to Jean Grae and Hi-Tek, to Mos to DJ Quik, to even somebody like Jermaine Dupri. I've taken something important away from every experience.
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These cats drink champagne and toast to death and pain, Like slaves on a ship talking about who's got the flyest chain
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As an artist, I have to be a leader of my fans, not, like, follow them. Because if I chose to follow them, you know, they could do it. You know, it's me who's doing it.
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I think the line is where you're in the studio, you're creating. That belongs to you as an artist. Nothing should taint that. I shouldn't be thinking about what the fans want, I shouldn't be thinking about what the radio wants, what the label wants, what your manager wants, a song for the chicks, a song for the street.
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To me, it's like happiness is about happiness, but happiness is a fight.
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My Umi said shine your light on the world, shine your light for the world to see
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I'm retiring the Mos Def name after 2011. I'm actually doing it.
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But you have to be creative on how you sell yourself and market yourself.
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Music is not an exact science so depending on the time and the mode and the energy when we do it that will determine what happens with it.